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I had the opportunity to talk with Jakub Stokalski of 11 Bit Studios about their upcoming city/society management survival game, Frostpunk. Jakub is also who guided me through the presentation of the game, which you can read here (and should if you want to understand a lot of the context of the interview).

The previous article mostly goes into the overview of what Frostpunk is, and in this interview I had the opportunity to ask Jakub some more specific questions to learn more about the game itself and the philosophy behind its design.

During the presentation I attended, and you will see it in the interview as well, Jakub stressed that Frostpunk is more of a society management than a city management game. Placing buildings, having the correct ones, etc are all important no question, but the decisions the player makes as leader of this community is the real meat of the game.

Shaping who the people are, what they believe, the rules they all follow, and more are where a lot of the decisions you make as leader will affect. In other words, you are creating your own society all through the backdrop of this harsh, frozen landscape of Frostpunk. It’s about sacrifice and living with difficult choices, as there is no way you won’t have to make some. Even the city building, to an extent, exists as an expression (it seems) of that society you are creating. People may have to sacrifice some comfort so materials can be put into something else to survive.

Frostpunk seems to be a very philosophical game. Not in just the fact that it challenges your beliefs with difficult questions, but you’ll shape your own philosophy that is then laid over the society you create.

So be sure to check out the interview above for more discussion along those lines, as well as some other gameplay related ones, such as the exploration aspect of Frostpunk.

If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2017 Coverage Hub.

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